Apparatus for treating flour.



J. A. WESENBR.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING FLOUR. APPLICATION I'ILED MAR.,1918.

1,099,225, Patented June 9, 1914.

2 SKBETB-BHEET 1.

J. A. WESENER. APPARATUS FOR TREATING FLOUR. APPLICATION FILED MARS,1913 1,099,225. Patented June 9,1914.

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IN VliN 'l'O/f.

WITNESSES #WM W77 JOHN ALFONZQ WEISENER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AIE'PARBiTUS FDR TREATING FLOUR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

lal onion June 9, 1.914.

Application filed March 6, 1913. Serial No. 752,400.

ful lnuur-wcnicuts in Apparatus fonTreatl lomy of which the follmving isa spcci 110;. ion.

Pry invention relates to the treatment of flour for the purpose ofmaturing the same,

- improving its quality and condition, and rcmoving the color therefrom;and the briniary object of the invention 15: to provide a form of amaratus for accon'ipllshing these results more cillcici'itly,conveniently and economically than has been heretofore pair A furtherobject is to provide an appararua r'or trcalinp; [iour which "willreduce to a minimum the amount of knowledge and skill required forcarrying out the treatment and thereby reducing the cost of the processand insuring; a better and more uniform product.

A further object is to provide an appara toe of this sort which will becompact and inexpensive in its construction.

A further specific object of the invention is to provide an improvedform of apparatue for practising the yjiroccsuea disclosed and rlainiedin, Patent No. 863.68% granted to me August 20. 1967.. and in n'iy(co-pending? application Serial No. 7129,4923, filed l ebruary 19, 1913,patented September 2,1913, as Patout No. 1,071,977.

l: have LlltEPUVQl'QlIl, after very considerable rl'x'yuu'loucc in thetreatment of flour with grasses, rmrt-iradarly chlorin gas; or a mixtureof n isyl chlorid 9,: and. chlorin, that in order to obtain the. 1stresults (and in fact in ordonto oblaiu any satisfactory results whenchlorin. hrrunin or other similar are employed) it is necessary, in thefirst place. l'o regulate quite accurately the amount. ol the agentwhich is used for the trcal'u'icut of a llour of a given quantity andcharacter and. in the second place, that thc gas should be as nearlyanhydrous as posaiblo. Tho latter requirement is coniraryto the comumuteaching ol lhlc art which hercmicro has ru'occi-rdorl upon theassmuptiorn tl at the rrarlious taking: place are in the nature ofoxidzu'ion processes. and the imporlauro .of tho fox-nun" requirementhas not born properly agmrccialerl for a similar reason. For eXalnpk-i.it u {wormed 'to bleach lirmr by subjccill gl; it to t o tn'ienr.

by chlorin gas produced by electrolysis. This method could not succeedbecause when chlorin gas is generated electrically (and the same will betrue it it were generated by any of the ordinary chemical means and usedimmediately generated) it necessarily will contain a considerable amountof moisture and will also contain. impurities and be produced in suchvaryingamounts as to make accurate regulation. in its; application tothe flour impossible. On the oxidation theory moisture was of courseessential to the desired reaction and therefore tho suggested method0.1. producing the gas zip pcarcd wholly unohjcctionablc. I amconvinced, however, that oxidation instcad'of being" sought for is to beavoided asfar as possible as its clients are deleterious rather thanadvantagcm'le. The rcaeous for this are fully set forth in my eo-pcndiugapplication Serial No. 749,493 (patrolled September Q, 1913, as PatentNo. 'la'WlJllT), and need not be repealed hero. Sullica it to say thatit is quite possible to get excellent rcsults by the use of chhlriu gasalone if the gas is applied to the flour in an anhydrous condition andin the proper an'iounha. The amount of a: a used will vary with thecharacter of the flour treated. if the wheat from which the flour ismade is a. hard wheat. such as spring: wheat. and contains a relativelylarge amount of gluten, it will require more ,q'asthan a softer winterwheat. 'lhc amount of gas tobe sod should. not substantially oxceed onepound of tho liquefied gas to live thousand pounds of Hour and shouldnot ordinarily be less; than one bound of tho liquefied chlorin to ontlums-zanr]. pounds of flour.

A r irci'crrcd embodiment of my im'ention is shown in the armunpanyiugdrawings Wl1 l6lfl" Figure 1. is a side elevation of tho apparatus withcertain parts broken away; and Fig. 2. a plan view of tho same.

Like clu'uaotcrs of reference designate like parts in the severalfigures or the drawinns.

Referring! to tho drawings. A dcsiguatcs a treating cell or chamber, B.'8 tanks adaptcd to contain a liquieliod anhydrous gas or mixture ofgases. such. lor cxan'qwlo, as chlorln. or a mixture oi chloriu anduil'rosyl chlorid nae.

(J dcuirniates a gas manifold with which the tanks B, B are connected,I) a cabinet enters the treating chamber at the top through a pipe andfalls through a series-of conical funnels 26. Itis kept in agitationby'means of disks 27 on a shaft 28 which is rotated by any suitable"driving mechanism. I have shown a bevel car 29 on the upper end of theshaft w ich is meshed by. a bevel gear 30 on a shaft 31 providdd withabelt pulley 32. Preferably the shaft 28 is provided with scrapers 33which operate against the inner surfaces of the funnels 26. ,Theapparatus may comprise any number of treating chambers such as thatdescribed. The drawings show the connections for a second treatingchamber. The second chamber itself is not shown and will not be furtheradverted to.

The gas-manifold C has. connections for two gas supply tanks B, B, inorder that when one tanlcis emptied the other may be opened up and thefirst one removed and re filled without interrupting the continuousoperation of the apparatus. Each tank B is connected with the manifoldby a pipe 34 and valve 35 of suitable construction. Each tank B ispreferably provided'with a similarly constructed valve designated in thedrawings 35*. I

, Interposed between the gas manifold and each of the gas pipes G is avalve designated as a whole, 46 and manipulated by a hand wheel 62whichis constructed so as to be capable of very minute adjustment-to enable ithe flow of gas to the treating: chamber to be given a close andaccurate regulation.

Preferably a reservoirgor pressurechamher 6% is interposed between thevalve 46 and the pipe Gr which leadsrto the treating chamber, a shortpipe'65 leading fromthe valve to the chamber, thepurpose of this beingto insure a uniform delivery of gasto with which the pipes F, F areconnected.

The pipes F, F- may be preferably provided with the shut-off valves 7 5.I

An important feature of my apparatus is that the air and gas are mixedat the point of entry of the gas into the treatingclnrmher. Moreover,the arrangement is such that with a stoppage of the blower the gascannot readily back up through the air pipe arid corrode it and theblower. The gas and air are mixed by means of a mixing device consistingof an air nozzle 76 connected with the pipe F and formed with adownwardly extending bend. 77 which enters the side of the treatingchamber, and of a gas nozzle. 7 8 connected with the gas pipeG, the ex-.tremity 79 of which is bent to correspond with the bend in the airnozzle and which extends into the latter. The stream of gas is thereforesurrounded by a stream of air and this results in a complete andthorough mixing of the air and gas. The downward inclination of thelower end of the gas nozzle prevents the. gas from backing up into theair pipe, in case the blower is shut down,

since chlorm gas is considerably heavier than air. The pressure in thetank B, which averages about one hundred and twenty-five pounds persquare inch, is reduced by the valve. d6 so that the pressure in pipeF-isc just a trifle above atmospheric pressure. This is necessary inorder that the supply of gas to the fiourshould not be too rapid- Theconstant suction of the air on the; gas nozzle 7 9 tends to draw thegasout through the gasnozzle 79. Uniformity of flow of the I gas-"isinsurcd by-the-supply of the gas in r the reservoir. The flour in thetreating chamber A is-kept in constant agitation so that every particleof it comes into contact with the mixture of air and gas delivered bythe nozzle 77, 79.

' While I have described my invention in a certain preferred form ofapparatus, it will be understood that modifications might be madetherein without departure from the invention.

I I claim:

l. Inapparatus for maturing and bleach ing flour by means of an agentwhich is an active gas at atmospheric pressure and ordinarytemperatures, the combination with a treating chamber, of a containeradapted to holda stored quantity ofthe agent in liquefied form, aconduit leading from the container to said treating chamber providedwith controlling apparatus for introducing the agent into the treatingchamber in gaseous form and in regulatable quantities, and means formixing the air with the gas within the chamber but before it comes intocontact with the flour.

a treating chamber, of a container adapted to hold a stored quantity ofthe agent in liquefied form, a conduit leading'from the container to thetreating chamber provided with controlling apparatus for introducing theagent into said treating chamber in a regulatable stream, and means fordirecting a stream of air against the gas stream within said chamberwhich breaks up the gas stream and dilutes the gas with air before itcomes into contact with the flour;

3. In apparatus for maturing andbleaching flour by means of an agentwhich is an active gas at atmospheric pressure'and ordinarytemperatures, the combination with a Y treating chamber, of a containeradapted to hold a stored quantit of the agent in hquefied form, a pipelea ing from the container to the treating chamberprovidedwithcontrolling apparatus for introducing the agent "into, said treatingchamber ina r'egulatable stream, a blower, and an air pipe leading fromthe blower into the treating chamber, the end of which air pipesurrounds the end of said gas pipe.

4. In apparatus for maturing and bleaching flour by means of a gaseousagent, the

combination with a treatingchamber, of a source of supply of gas, a gaspipe leading from said source of supply into the treating chamber, ablower, and an air pipe leading from the blower into said treatingchamber, the end of which surrounds the end of said .gas pipe.

5. In apparatus for maturing and bleachmg flour by means of a gaseousagent heavler than air, the combination with a treating chamber of asource of supply of gas,-a gas pipe leading from said source of supplyinto the treating chamber, a blower, and an air pipe leading from theblower into said treating chamber, the end of which surrounds the end ofsaid gas pipe, the ends of both pipes havin a downward inclination, forthe purpose d cscribed.

Jim. I. LOGAN, IRVING L. PULVER.

